Guy Fawkes Day

Four hundred and two years ago, Guy Fawkes and a band of collaborators attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening.

The year was 1605 - 71 years after Henry VII had declared himself Head of the Church of England. For seven decades, Catholic conspirators had plotted to return a Catholic monarch to the English throne, but they had been foiled at every turn.

It was Robert Catesby, who had already risked the executioner's axe supporting the Earl of Essex's ill-fated scheme to depose Queen Elizabeth, who came up with the latest and most ambitious plot to overthrow the English crown.

He and his band of collaborators, led by Guy Fawkes, rented a cellar under the Houses of Parliament in London, which they filled with almost a ton of gunpowder. During the State opening of Parliament, when King James I planned to address the ministers of England, the conspirators intended to light the explosives and obliterate the treacherous king and his hated government.

Had they succeeded, English history would never have been the same. Parliament, the Great Hall and even Westminster Abbey would have been blown to rubble. It was a singularly ambitious and spectacular act of terrorism.

But terrorists were a treacherous lot even back then and it was Francis Tresham, a man reluctantly recruited to the Catholic cause due to his money and influence, who betrayed Guy Fawkes and his conspirators.

Tresham wrote to his brother in law, Lord Monteagle, advising him to "devise some excuse not to attend this parliament, for they shall receive a terrible blow, and yet shall not see who hurts them."

Monteagle revealed the warning to the Earl of Salisbury and later that night, when the 5th of November 1605 was but a few hours old, men-at-arms discovered Guy Fawkes lurking in the gunpowder packed cellar, carrying a watch, matches and fuses.

The conspiracy was foiled and Parliament convened as planned a few days later.

Ironically, the Catholics had plotted to assassinate King James I because of his intolerance of their faith. After the full extent of the plot had been uncovered, King James gave a speech to the people of England in which he declared "it did not follow that all professing the Romish religion were guilty of the same."

In much the same way that Tony Blair and the British government have clarified that modern day terrorism is committed by a minority of Muslims, rather than Islam as a whole, King James declared that the gunpowder plot was not representative of the English Catholic community.

Despite that statement, Catholic Emancipation in England still took another 200 years.

As for the conspirators themselves? Guy Fawkes was tortured extensively, before being hung, drawn and quartered in Old Palace Yard. Robert Catesby fled to the midlands of England, where he was shot and killed in a shootout with guards sent to arrest him.

And now, even four hundred years later, people in Britain celebrate Guy Fawke's day with bonfires, fireworks and stuffed 'guys.' Perhaps the exact details of the event are vague in many people's minds, but this famous poem helps remind us of why the 5th of November is such an important date:

Remember, remember the fifth of November,

The gunpowder, treason and plot,

I see of no reason why gunpowder treason,

Should ever be forgot.

Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent

To blow up the King and the Parliament.

Three score barrels of powder below,

Poor old England to overthrow:

By God's providence he was catch'd

With a dark lantern and burning match.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring.

Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

Hip hip hoorah!

A penny loaf to feed the Pope.

A farthing o' cheese to choke him.

A pint of beer to rinse it down.

A fagot of sticks to burn him.

Burn him in a tub of tar.

Burn him like a blazing star.

Burn his body from his head.

Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead.

Hip hip hoorah!

Hip hip hoorah!